Music and Dance from Wedding

This video doesn't really show how very loud it gets when the clarino is playing, it is really really loud, therefor no baby. You can see the way a typically wedding dance goes, with each major attendee leading the dance, the grooms father, the grooms mother, the brides father, the brides mother, the groom, the bride, the flower girl, any aunt, uncle, brother or sister who wishes too, the list goes on and on, lots of dancing all with very loud Greek music.

Cousin's Wedding

On the way to the church ceremony

Father and Groom waiting for the bride outside.

Yes it is raining, here comes the bride.

Mara and Nik inside the church

We then took baby home, he fell asleep on the way home and Katerina watched him. It's a good thing that he was asleep because Katerina was holding a baby that belonged to some guest staying upstairs and I think she would have just dropped that baby in order to hold baby Nik.
In Greece when the bride and groom finally arrive to the reception they first cut the cake, then they do a dance with the family then they do the dollar dance and several more dances all before they can sit down and eat. I would be starving by then, thank goodness Arthur and I didn't get married here. Speaking of Cake I finally got to try what a Greek wedding cake taste like, it was kind of like a Black Forest Chocolate Cake with chocolate soaked cake and cream and a few cherries and then a vegetable frosting on the top with almond slices.

Shopping Expedition

Yesterday, Arthur and I went shopping in Larissa. There are so many shops that you can spend days there walking around and looking into shops. We went to find Nik some nighttime clothes and found two cute pajamas then I thought we should get him an outfit for the Greek wedding we are going to next weekend. When we brought the clothes home, Arthur's mom said they were too big and I got a little worried. We purchased 12 month size clothing but when we got home I tried them on him and they fit perfect. In fact if he gets any taller we will have to remove the feet on the pajamas.
Last night Nik did something he hasn't done before, he woke up at two for his milk and while I was getting it ready he somehow sat up by himself. Now I'm pretty sure he didn't go from lying down to sitting up but maybe what he did was role over onto his stomach then get on his hands and knees and then he sat up all under a minute, pretty amazing. Diaper changing has also become a challenge with his ability to rollover and crawl away, I can't wait till he can just stand up and walk away, bye-bye mama.

Family

Family came to visit, Katerina's brother with his wife and two children, they live in Athens. As you can see Nik has hair on the sides but it is really light blonde so it's not as visible as the top part of his hair. He still loves hugs and kisses and in fact has learned that his different cries gets different responses so he is starting to use his vocal whining to get us to pick him up. So anyone concerned about him not wanting to be held is sadly mistaken HE LOVES BEING HELD. Now when he drops something he will grunt and look at it untill you pick it up for him, he is finally crawling forward but this has lead to his ability to climb up onto his knees and then pull himself up to his feet. He can hold himself up for several seconds on his own and I am almost afraid to leave him awake in his crib since this is the easiest place for him to pull himself up. Well enough about baby, I'm doing great :)

Sunday Drive

We took baby up to Metsovo for a Sunday drive and had a nice lunch.

7 Months

The things he can do:Suck his toes (he won't let me take a picture)

Look Cool while sucking a pacifier

Got Milk (actually yogurt)

He can also now go from a sitting position and pull himself up on something to stand and stand for a few seconds on his own. Crawling is a backwards affair and frustrates him greatly because he would like to go forward but somehow ends up going in reverse. He enjoys eating pretty much anything we give him and really likes it when it comes from our own plates or if we show interest in eating his food. Dad (Tim) said he would be a sailor in the Olympics but I think he will either play soccer or any sport really to do with kicking his feet because they are constantly in motion. This is why we have him walking all of the time because if you hold him he is kicking his feet, if he is laying down he is kicking his feet (very hard for diaper changes) so it is better to just have him walking around or in his walker.

Weight Update

We went to the doctor today for our monthly shot and Nik weighed in at 18 lbs., 4 more lbs. to go and we go in for the second surgery. At this rate I'm guessing it will probably be sometime in November.

DVD Player

We are so excited to announce that we have a DVD player that plays all of our movies, yippee! This is exciting for a number of reasons:

1st: I haven't been able to play my American movies since moving here. Computer screens are really to small especially when you have a big screen TV in the living room.

2nd: We get free movies in the paper and sometimes even those didn't work on our old DVD player. We have every James Bond movie and we haven't been able to watch them.

This is our great happening of the week, we own about 300-400 movies, we have a whole lot of catching up to do.